The High Cost of Education
by IrenaAdler
Summary: The Eppes Family is torn in two when Don and his boyfriend, Will, take Colby's daughter to a gun range without his permission. Sequel to Lesson Plan and A Lesson from Uncle Will in Nena Stories. Complete. 9, Nena returns home.
1. Chapter 1: Coming Home

**The High Cost of Education—**

**Part 1 – Coming Home**

Colby and Charlie were in the kitchen, idly debating the merits of eating their custard pie still frozen or thawing it first, when they heard the front door open and shut. Colby's eyebrows rose and Alan looked up from his writing of a grocery list. Usually, when Will and Don took Nena out for the evening, they came back just before bedtime. They hadn't said where they were going tonight, but wherever it was hadn't taken long. Colby could hear Will talking in the hall.

"You're back early," Alan called.

Will walked into the kitchen, and there was something about his face that brought Colby to instant alertness. Don looked just as serious.

"Nena okay?" Colby asked quickly.

"She's fine," Will responded. "I sent her up to her room so I could tell you first about tonight's activities."

Colby frowned at the odd tone in Will's voice.

Will met his eyes squarely. "We took Nena to the gun range and showed her how to shoot a gun."

"What?" Colby asked in disbelief. "You did _what?_"

"Took Nena to the gun range and helped her shoot my Glock and a Tomcat."

Colby looked between Will and Don, his brain still trying to spin into gear. "Why?"

"She needed to learn how to handle a gun safely, and learn how dangerous they were, too."

Abruptly, Colby was fully alert. White hot rage shot through him. "You bastard!" he snarled. "How dare you make that kind of decision!"

"I gave you two months," Will said coolly. "You didn't look like up you were gonna do it, and I wasn't going to wait any longer. There are far too many guns that casually come in and out of this house. Or your friend's houses. She visits the office, too."

"She knows not to handle a gun!"

"Really?" Will replied. "Or are they just toys that have been kept from her? She already plays 'Fed' and has a toy badge. What could be more fun than a real gun?"

"You're not her father! You're not even really her uncles. This isn't your call!"

"It needed to be done."

"You had _no right_ to do that without talking to me."

Will raised his eyebrows. "I couldn't take the chance you'd say 'no.' It was too important."

"Dammit, get out!" Colby yelled. "You are never going to see her again!"

Will calmly nodded and turned and left the room.

Don started to say something but Colby cut him off.

"You, too," Colby snapped. "I bet this was his idea but you went along with it. Just get the fuck out of here."

Don pressed his lips together and nodded. He looked at Alan and Charlie, then followed Will out of the room.

Colby sat down hard in a chair, his whole body shaking. _Fucking superior bastard! And Don, I thought he was my friend! I can never trust either of them with Nena again._

"Oh my God," Charlie said faintly. "What just happened?"

"Your brother and his boyfriend decided that they were better parents than us," Colby snarled.

"I can't believe they'd do that," Alan said, his voice tight.

Colby jumped to his feet. If he didn't get out of this house, he was going to hit something, or someone. "I'm going on a run."

Charlie and Alan stared at him as he stalked to the door of the kitchen. He said over his shoulder, "Charlie, can you make sure that Nena's okay? And that it's not her fault? If I told her now, she wouldn't believe me."

He went to get his running shoes.

* * *

With a sigh, Megan picked up her cell phone and looked at the Caller ID. She flipped it open and said, "Charlie, I was right about to dive into a quart of Chunky Monkey ice cream. Does this—"

"I know you're not our personal counselor," Charlie said, and his voice sounded strange, taut. "But could you come over?"

Megan sat up straight. "What's wrong?"

"Will and Don took Nena to a gun range without Colby knowing."

"_Shit_," Megan said. "What happened?"

"Colby threw Will and Don out of the house."

"Shit," Megan repeated. "I'll be there in ten minutes."

Charlie hung up and Megan shoved the ice cream back into the freezer. She grabbed her keys and wallet and was out the door.

Getting into her car, Megan put her phone into the holder and pressed the speed dial for Don. She put on her seatbelt and pulled out of the driveway as the phone rang.

"Eppes. Something up?" Don asked. He sounded almost hopeful that he was going to get called into work.

"Charlie called me," Megan snapped.

"Oh," Don said tiredly.

Megan took a deep breath and calmed her racing brain. She needed data. "Answer some questions for me."

"Okay."

"Whose idea was it to take Nena to the range?"

"Will's. He talked me into it. I shouldn't have, but he made some very compelling arguments about Nena living around so many guns—"

Megan didn't want to hear explanations at the moment. "What exactly did you do at the range? Tell me in detail."

"The range isn't usually open tonight but Will gave the guy 500 bucks to let us in and not turn on the security cameras. When we got inside, Will got out his Glock and showed Nena how to tell if the safety was on it and if it had bullets. Then we put ear protection and eye protection on. Nena got glasses but no ear protection. Will wanted her to hear how loud it was. Then Will held Nena's hands and put his Glock in her hands. She held it but Will's hands were right outside hers. He then helped her point it at the target and pull the trigger. He let the gun kick a little, so that Nena could feel it."

"How did Nena react?"

"She got upset and nearly dropped the gun. Will caught it."

"Okay, next?"

"Will asked her if she wanted to shoot it again and she said no. He took the Glock away and showed her how he wasn't ever pointing at anyone and how he was putting the safety on. Then Will got out this little gun he'd borrowed from a friend. It was a Beretta Tomcat, a cute little .22 with a white pearl grip and flowers engraved on it. You should have seen Nena's face light up."

Megan could picture it. Just the sort of gun that would appeal to a little girl.

"Will helped Nena shoot that, and she seemed surprised that it still had a bad kick and noise. Then I took a watermelon, one about the size of a person's head, and put it on a plastic sheet a little ways down the range. Then Will helped Nena shoot the watermelon. Even with that little gun, it exploded in a total mess. Nena dropped the gun and started crying. Will handed me the gun and picked up Nena. He talked to her quietly while I cleaned up the melon. Then we left and got some ice cream. Nena was pretty upset but she calmed down after a while and tried to explain to us something about guns being angry."

"Angry?" Megan said. "What specifically?"

"Umm," Don said. "She said that good guys' guns get angry when they see bad guys but guns are stupid and think paper and watermelons are bad guys."

"Hmm," Megan said thoughtfully, filing that away for later. "Then what?"

"We took her home, then Will told Nena that she wasn't in trouble but she should go up to her room because Colby and Will needed to talk."

"How did Nena seem on the ride home?"

Don replied, "Subdued, thoughtful, a little jumpy."

"What did Colby say when you told him?"

"That we had no right to make that decision and that we wouldn't be seeing Nena again."

"Ouch," Megan said.

"Yeah," Don said tiredly. Then he added, a faint hope in his voice. "Are you going to talk to him?"

"Yes, but I'm not making any promises," Megan said sharply. "This is the kind of thing that can break a family."

"I know," Don agreed softly.

Megan ended the call and stared thoughtfully at the road in front of her. She had a guess as to why Don had agreed to this, but why had Will pushed it so hard? Why hadn't he wanted to ask Colby? An idea came to her and she caught her breath. Could Will be _that_ self-destructive?


	2. Chapter 2: Running, Breathing, Listening

**Part 2 – Running, Breathing, Listening**

Colby's feet pounded the asphalt to the rhythm of his anger.

How could they? He trusted them! He'd let them take his little girl, no questions asked. Did that make him a bad father? No, it was them, they were the bad guardians. Nena wouldn't even be able to hold up a gun. Was she scared? Was she excited? Did she think it was cool and wanted to do it again? She was too young, too young. He'd rather have had to given her the sex talk then let her lift a gun. Couldn't there be anything in his life that wasn't touched by violence? Even Charlie was around violence, sometimes almost jaded to it. He'd lose Nena to the gun, too. Should he have taken her to the range himself? Showed her hands-on how scary guns were? That wasn't the point! Don and Will had gone around his back, because they knew he would say no. How could he have said anything but no? His baby with a gun in her hand.

Colby felt sick and he pushed the pace harder. Thoughts followed him like chattering demons. Ignoring the pain and the need for oxygen, he tried to outrun them.

* * *

When Megan knocked on the front door of the Eppes home, she didn't get an answer. All the lights were on, however, and Charlie was expecting her, so she let herself inside. Alan was sitting on the couch, his hands clenched between his knees. His face was pinched with anxiety.

"Hi," Megan said quietly.

Alan looked up, startled from whatever thoughts made his face so grim.

"Charlie called me," Megan said. "Asked me to come over."

"Oh," Alan said. "So you heard."

"Yeah," Megan said, sitting next to Alan and putting her hand on his forearm. "How are you doing?"

"How should I be doing?" Alan said with more than a trace of bitterness. "One of my sons has done something unforgivable against the child of my other son. God, there are already so many guns in this house. To do that to her …"

"What did they do to her?" Megan asked gently.

"Are they trying to make her into one of them?" Alan continued, as if she hadn't spoken. "More violence, more guns, more dark faces and things 'it's better if you don't know.' How could I have raised such a son? And Will, I thought he was good for Don, but now I see Will's just dragging Don down deeper into it."

"Hang on," Megan said, forcing him to look at her. "You're not making sense. What do you think Will and Don did to Nena?"

"Taught her how to shoot a gun," Alan snapped. "I thought you knew that."

"Yes, but—"

Megan was interrupted by the sound of Charlie coming down the stairs. He was rubbing his eyes.

"She's finally asleep," Charlie said quietly. "She cried herself to sleep. I think she was most upset about Cole and Will yelling at each other." Slowly, Charlie came to sit down on the couch. "I think that she heard a lot of yelling at her mom's house."

"See?" Alan said. "Violence breeds violence!"

Megan blinked. It was almost as if Alan was saying that Nena had gone out and robbed a liquor store. "Hang on," she repeated. "I think you might be jumping to some wrong conclusions here."

The front door opened and in stepped Colby, dripping with sweat. He was gasping for breath and there was some white around his eyes. Megan jumped to her feet, grabbing his arm as he began to sag.

"Walk, Granger, keep moving," she commanded, guiding him in a shuffling walk around the table. "Charlie, get some water." She continued to circle with him, feeling like a horse trainer walking a horse after a hard workout. Normally, Colby could take care of himself, but this time he seemed oblivious to his body's demands.

Charlie returned with a glass of water and Megan forced Colby to take a few swallows. His breathing slowly calmed down, though it still sounded ragged.

"Are you going to be okay?" Megan asked.

The green eyes that turned towards Megan were anything but okay. Colby looked angry and terrified and guilty, all at once.

"Okay, dumb question," Megan said dryly. "What I meant is do I have to call an ambulance and have them bring a crash cart or are you going to live?"

That got the faintest twitch of Colby's lips, the faintest ghost of Colby's usual wry grin, but at least it was something. He nodded and sipped at the drink in his hand. She guided him to a chair and let him sit.

"Alright, people," she said, putting her hands on her hips and addressing the three of them. "The first thing we're going to do is get the facts straight. I called Don so I know exactly what they did at the gun range, and you're going to sit here and listen to me tell you, without interruption." She eyed each of them until she saw reluctant agreement on their faces.

She took a deep breath. Her own thoughts on this situation didn't matter at the moment. She was an instrument of understanding, called here by a friend to try and manage a disaster before it tore this family apart. In a way, it was her family, too. She hadn't realized, until it was threatened, how much the extended Eppes family meant to her, how much that love and stability buoyed her. She was fighting for herself now, too, and she had the tools. Those, plus love and a shit-load of luck, and they all might get through this alive.

Holding their attention, Megan went through the story, step by step, calmly and without passion. She emphasized several points – One, that Nena had never been allowed to hold a gun entirely by herself. Two, Nena had never been in danger. Three, that Nena, despite having been told repeatedly before that she was never to touch a gun, had been eager for the lesson. And four, that the lesson had been effective in its intention, teaching Nena that guns were scary and not to be handled.

After she finished, the room was silent for a moment as each man sorted through his thoughts.

Megan cleared her throat. "So that leaves us with two important questions. Why did Don and Will believe that Nena needed this lesson and why did they not ask permission?"

She focused on the large blond man, who sat with one hand over his eyes. "Colby, why do you think that they didn't ask permission?"

Colby took his hand away and glared at her. "Because I would have said 'no.' Will said it was too important to take the chance I'd say no."

"Okay." Megan turned to Alan. "Why do you think they didn't ask?"

"Obviously because they thought they knew better than her own father," he snapped.

"Alright." Megan then asked her question for a third time to Charlie.

Charlie looked at her then looked down at his hands. "What Colby said," he mumbled.

Megan gave Charlie a curious glance then continued, "Then, let's address Alan's thought first. Have Don and Will and Colby clashed on parental choices before?"

Everyone looked at Colby who shrugged. "Maybe sometimes they let her stay up too late or eat too much ice cream. Nothing big like this."

"So there's something specific to this issue that made them behave differently," Megan said.

"This isn't an _issue_ like when bed time is," Alan growled. "This is about violence and a whole family steeped in violence and guns and _more_ guns and another goddamned _Fed_ in my family."

Megan blinked. Even Colby and Charlie looked surprised by Alan's outburst. With Alan, this was obviously a much deeper issue. He was a man of peace and surrounded by men of war. Alan subsided into his chair, looking a little shame-faced.

"It's true, though," Colby said quietly. "I wanted, I wanted her to stay out of my world. It's the main reason I never pushed Jenny for more time with her before. I thought with being in the FBI, I'd be more settled, and it would be okay, but it follows me anyway, the ugliness. Guns are a necessary evil in my job, but I never wanted to bring that home with me."

"But you do," Megan said. "You bring your gun home with you. That's the point."

Colby's eyes snapped up to hers. "Are you saying you think they did the right thing?"

"I'm not saying anything like that," Megan said, backpedaling. "I'm just saying that, previous to tonight, Nena might already not have been as untouched by your world as you might have liked. What is her favorite game? Playing 'Fed' and catching bad guys."

"God," Colby groaned and put his head in his hands. "I never should have brought her here."

Megan kneeled down in front of Colby and took his hands in hers. She forced Colby to meet her eyes. "Colby Granger," she said quietly but with unmistakable certainty. "You are a good father. You have given Nena a better home than she has ever had. You have given her love and stability and positive role models, both personally and in your relationships. She's growing into a strong, confident, bright girl, and you're a big part of why."

"Then, why wasn't it enough?" Colby asked, his anger returning. "Why did Don and Will do this?"

"That's our next question, isn't it?" Megan said, straightening up. She went to the dining room table and pulled a chair over. She set the chair down, sat on it, and faced the three men squarely. "Why did Don and Will think that your excellent parenting wasn't doing the job when it came to guns? I want to hear your ideas first, then I'll tell you mine."


	3. Chapter 3: Theorizing

**Part 3 - Theorizing**

Megan looked at the men in front of her and repeated, "Well, Colby, why do you think Don and Will felt they needed to give Nena the lesson they did?"

"I guess they thought she wasn't going to listen to what I said," Colby said sourly.

"Alan?"

"Because they think they're her parents, I suppose," Alan snapped.

"Charlie?"

Charlie's eyes shot over to Colby then they dropped back to the floor. "I think they've seen bad things happen to kids with guns and didn't want that to happen with Nena."

"Alan, do you really believe that Don thinks he's Nena's father rather than Colby?"

"No," Alan said grudgingly, then he frowned, "Not before. But he thinks she must be like he was as a kid, running around and waving a toy gun. Nena doesn't even have a toy gun."

"Do you think she'd like one?" Megan asked.

"She's a good girl," Alan said. "She has other things she likes to do than playing 'Fed.'"

"No one doubts that she's a good girl," Megan said. "But you didn't answer my question. Do you think she'd like a toy gun?"

"Probably," Alan grumbled.

Megan left that for a moment, then turned to Colby. "Does Nena always do what you say?"

"Of course not," Colby said. "But she does for the big things. And I've made sure she realized that this was a big thing."

"You don't think there's any chance she would not follow your rules, that the lure of a real gun would be too great?"

Colby grimaced and shook his head.

Megan wanted to press, but she made herself move on. "Charlie, you think that Don and Will have seen kids getting hurt in gun accidents and didn't want that to happen to Nena?"

Charlie nodded his head silently.

"Well," Megan said, leaning back into her chair. "I know that's true for Don, and I have to think that played into his decision to follow Will's lead in this."

She pushed her hair behind her ear and thought back to what she'd heard. "I don't know the details, but I know that a few years ago, a child of an FBI agent accidentally killed himself with the agent's gun. Don was the person who had to investigate the case, make sure there wasn't negligence on the agent's part. I can only imagine how that must have torn Don up, asking this parent who had just lost their child if it was their fault."

"I remember it," Charlie said quietly. "I came home one night and Don was sitting in the dark, with the TV on, but he wasn't watching it. There were tears on his face, and he was just sitting there, looking at nothing. I didn't say anything to Don about it, but later I asked Terry what had happened. She told me that day had been the kid's funeral."

Megan nodded, surprised yet not surprised that Don had shown such a strong reaction.

"Don's always had a thing about kids," Alan acknowledged. "Always wanting to protect them, getting more upset when it's kids who suffer."

"The agent probably didn't take care of his gun," Colby said, but didn't really sound convinced.

"So," Megan said, "Don didn't want this to happen to Nena, who he cares about a great deal. Don's said many times that he doesn't want to clean up after tragedies, he wants to prevent them. He saw a means to truly discourage Nena playing with guns and he took it."

There was an uncomfortable silence, which Colby broke by saying, "He still should have talked to me first."

Megan nodded. "That certainly would have prevented a lot of this mess … providing that he was able to convince you to agree with the lesson. If you hadn't, and he'd felt the need to go ahead anyway?" She shrugged eloquently.

"That would have been worse," Colby said begrudgingly, "but it doesn't excuse what they did."

"Easier to ask for forgiveness than permission," Charlie mumbled.

Megan pointed towards him. "Exactly."

There was another uncomfortable silence that Megan allowed to last a long moment, hoping that the others were thinking about what had just been said.

"Okay," Megan said. "That's my best guess on why Don did it, but why did Will? It was Will's idea and he talked Don into it and made all the arrangements. Will has probably seen his own share of kids who've been killed by accidental shootings. He loves Nena and wants to protect her, deal with a 'lack' that he saw in her upbringing. I think that Will believes these are his only motivations here. And they probably are, at least on a conscious level, but I think there's something else operating here."

She took a deep breath. She'd been on pretty solid ground before now, but this next part was a lot more extrapolation and hard-honed intuition.

"You probably don't know very much about Will's history," Megan said, then looked at each of them in query. They shook their heads. "It's not mine to tell you, but I can tell you that it was bad. Don has talked to me about it to try and come to terms with it himself. Will grew up in a negative family situation, followed by some extremely negative experiences as a teenager and adult."

Colby shifted and rolled his eyes.

"Now," Megan said to Colby, "Before you say I'm making excuses for him, I'm not. I'm just giving you information."

Colby subsided.

Megan folded her arms and looked at Charlie and Alan as well. "You need to understand that Will has never had a relationship that wasn't negative, that's including most of his family relationships. Either the relationship was always negative, or it seemed to start well then went bad. Even his best, longest relationship ended with fights and bitterness. You can imagine that, on some level, Will is just waiting for his time with Don to fall apart, because he believes that is the only possible outcome."

Alan grimaced and Charlie frowned. She imagined that they were remembering things that Will had said or done that corroborated what she was saying.

"So he had a shitty childhood," Colby snapped. "What does that have to do with taking my little girl to a gun range?"

Megan gave a helpless shrug. "Say you're walking across a rope bridge above a high ravine. You're 100 certain that, at some point, the bridge is going to snap and drop you into the ravine. Do you scoot along the bridge carefully, trying to make it as far as you can, or do you stomp your way along, hating the anticipation of the fall more than the fall itself?"

"Let me guess," Alan said. "You're saying that Will would stomp."

"Yes. Because he does believe that the relationship with Don will end, and end badly."

"I don't understand," Charlie said. "How is this thing with Nena stomping?"

Megan took a deep breath and let it out her nose. "Now, I'm just making an educated deduction here, but from what I know of Will, this makes sense. When he feels threatened, he goes on the offensive."

"And he's threatened by Nena?" Charlie said blankly.

"He's threatened by Don's closeness with his family. He figures at some point, Don's going to be forced to choose between Will and his family. So he made that point come now. I'm not claiming that Will did this consciously. Will's one of the most self-aware men I've ever met, but I think even he believes this has nothing to do with anything but protecting Nena."

"But you don't," Alan said slowly. "You think he deliberately created a breach between himself and us."

Megan nodded. "Making Don choose."

"By why would he have to choose?" Charlie said with bewilderment. "Will's part of the family now."

"I guess Will doesn't really feel like that," Megan said quietly. She didn't have to say more. Words hung in the air as if she'd said them out loud.

_And now Will is sure he's not a member of this family at all._


	4. Chapter 4: Going to Bed

**Part 4 – Going to Bed**

No one said much after that. Megan decided that she'd given them enough to think about, and started making her excuses. Alan nodded and went up to bed. Colby said goodbye and went to check on Nena. Charlie and Megan stood at the front door and watched Colby slowly climb the stairs. He looked worn to the bone.

When Colby was out of earshot, Megan asked Charlie, "You sort of agree with what Will and Don did, don't you?"

Charlie nodded glumly.

"But you can't say so without hurting Colby," Megan finished.

"No," Charlie sighed. "But I know the statistics. The odds of Nena hurting herself or someone else are just too high. It's not like an old gun that someone keeps in a box in the closet. Colby's gun is daily in evidence, a constant reminder to Nena of something nifty she can't have. Eventually she's gonna give in to temptation. Someone's going to be careless and forget to put their gun away or let Nena see them punch in the combination to the safe."

"It's easy to see it happening," Megan admitted.

Charlie sighed again. "I've had the same worries that Don has about all the guns around. I haven't brought up the subject with Colby because he was so sure that he had it under control." He gave Megan a wry shrug. "Besides, I couldn't think of what else could be done other than forbidding anyone to bring a gun into the house, which would never work. I'm glad that Will came up with a better idea. I just wish … I just wish he'd convinced Colby first."

Megan gave her own sigh. "Yeah."

"And when he ordered Will and Don out of the house tonight, it was just so shocking. I just, I just didn't know how to react. It was probably a good thing that they left quickly, anyway. I think it might have gotten ugly."

"Probably," Megan said. "I'd wondered what you thought about that."

"It's Colby's house, too," Charlie said. He fiddled with the door latch for a moment before asking, "Do you really think Will did this, caused this fight, on purpose?"

"It's a guess," Megan said. "But yeah."

"I don't understand him," Charlie complained. "I've tried, but I just don't get him."

Megan smiled. "He's the sort that makes people like me stay in business, but he's a good person."

"Oh, I don't doubt that," Charlie said quickly. "And he makes Don happy. More happy than I've ever seen him."

"Yeah. Even with little crisises like this."

"Hope it _is_ a little crisis," Charlie said.

Megan nodded in sincere agreement.

"Thanks for coming over," Charlie said, his big eyes serious. "I don't know what we would have done without you." He reached over and gave her an awkward hug. She hugged him back.

"You're welcome," Megan said. "But now I really do have a pint of Chunky Monkey calling my name."

Charlie smiled and opened the front door for her. Megan walked down the sidewalk and got into her car, but after she started it, she sat for a moment, staring at nothing. Then she pulled out of the driveway and, instead of turning towards home, headed for Larry and some comforting of her own.

* * *

After Megan left, Charlie checked all the downstairs locks, turned off the lights, and climbed up the stairs. He pushed open the door to Nena's room, to see Colby sitting in bed with her, Nena's head on his lap. He was leaning against the headboard, his eyes closed. He opened his eyes as Charlie stood there and gave him a wan smile. Charlie smiled back, attempting to be reassuring, then shut the door and went to their bedroom.

Charlie got ready, crawled into bed and turned off the lights. He stared at the ceiling for a long time, unable to sleep. His head roiled with too many thoughts and emotions. Guilt for being not wholly on Colby's "side" in the debate. Fear for the future of his family relationships. Confusion at the unexpected vehemence from his father. Sadness at Will's uncertainty and the hard things he'd endured. Anger that Will had also put him in a position of having to choose between his lover and his brother. Anxiety that Colby would decide that living here was bad for Nena and he'd leave Charlie and move far away. His head ached with the barrage of emotions, and he tried to push them back with theorems and formulas. Eventually, the soothing world of numbers allowed him to fall asleep.

He dreamed of Nena walking across a rope bridge, then she was swinging on a park swing with Will pushing her one way and Colby the other. Charlie tried to explain the math of a swing, but Megan kept asking, "But how does it make you feel?" Alan was too busy trying to take a toy gun away from Don, who was running around with a red bandana over his face and a bed-sheet-turned-superman-cape over his shoulders.

Sometime later, Charlie blinked awake as the bed creaked and Colby climbed in beside him. Charlie lay for a moment, unmoving, unsure of Colby's mood, then Colby touched his shoulder and Charlie came quickly into the warmth of Colby's arms.

Colby simply held him, his cheek against Charlie's hair. Charlie cuddled against Colby and fell back asleep.

An hour later, Charlie was woken up again by movement on the bed. Nena was sitting on the foot of the bed, Rocko clutched under one arm.

Colby moved aside, creating space between him and Charlie. "C'mon up, honey," he said and Nena moved quickly to snuggle between them. Colby didn't even bother with his usual, 'This is only for tonight,' warning. He just gave a deep sigh and let Nena curl into his arms, where Charlie had been a moment before.

"Love you, Nena-bear," Colby murmured. Nena turned over once then fell instantly asleep. Colby reached over her to touch Charlie's cheek. "Love you too, Angel. Always."

Charlie smiled in the dark, kissed Colby's hand, and settled into sleep with two of the most important people in the world.


	5. Chapter 5: Confessing

**Part 5 – Confessing**

Don leaned back from his desk, stretched, and rubbed his eyes. He hadn't slept well last night and neither had Will. They had spoken little after leaving the house last night. After getting _thrown out_ of the house last night by Colby. He was still trying to process the fact that he'd gotten thrown out of his own – no, the house wasn't his—yes, his _own_ house. The house was as much his as Colby's, if not more …

Last night he and Will had just gone home, watched an old, familiar movie, and gone to bed. He'd caught Will looking at him oddly a few times, but he hadn't felt like talking and Will hadn't pushed.

This morning, Colby had been decidedly cool and Don had noticed Megan biting her lip several times. She was probably wondering what was going on. David had, of course, pretended nothing had changed, though Don had caught David looking at Colby with an expression that looked very much like 'I told you so.' David obviously deemed himself too smart to let his personal life interfere with work. Don had ignored David, been polite to Colby and avoided any one-on-one conversations with Megan while they went through the morning's casework. Now, it was lunchtime and he really needed to talk to Colby. He looked over to the large man, hunched over his computer, and sighed.

"Granger, you got a minute?"

Colby looked up but didn't say anything. It wasn't a question. Don gestured with his head towards the outside door. He walked that way and, after a moment, heard Colby following.

They got out to the walkway and Don leaned on the railing. Colby came out behind him and stood, his arms crossed and his feet planted. Don looked at him for a moment, wondering when his family life had gotten so tangled up in his work life. Then again, it wasn't hard to pinpoint – it was the day he'd brought Charlie into his very first case. He didn't regret that, or Charlie finding happiness with one of his agents, but it sure made things complicated. There was no way Don could let this fight with Colby last any longer and still have a team.

"It's not an excuse," Don said at last. "I messed up, but I want you to maybe understand why I did it, okay?"

Colby nodded, his face impassive.

"Do you know Neal Jackson?"

Colby frowned. "Agent Jackson? The guy who's always setting up office betting pools?"

"Yeah," Don said and looked out over the railing. "A couple of years ago, before you came here, Jackson's four-year-old son accidentally killed himself with Jackson's gun."

Colby hissed in surprise and horror. "So it was him."

Don raised his eyebrows and Colby said, "Megan came over last night after you … She mentioned something about an accidental killing of an agent's child."

Don grimaced and looked over the railing. The horror of that day returned easily. It had never been far from him since Nena had come to live with Colby. He said slowly, "Jackson had just come home from work and just set his gun down for a _second_. His kid, Jordon, had been given the big 'don't touch guns' speech many times, but he seemed to have seen his father's gun as a toy that had always been kept away from him. So, when he found it, he played with it and blew his head off."

"Shit," Colby said.

"Yeah, Jackson's never gotten over it. His wife left him and took the other kid and he doesn't see them anymore. Jackson used to be a great field agent, but now he won't carry a gun and never leaves his desk."

"Huh," Colby said faintly.

"When Will started talking about Nena getting a hold of a gun, all I could think of was Jordon's funeral, and his little coffin getting lowered into the ground." Don finally looked back at Colby, blinking against the stinging in his eyes. "I couldn't see that happen to Nena, couldn't live with that. We should have talked to you first, convinced you, but I know Jackson had done all the normal stuff and still his son died. If you had said 'no, don't teach her,' what would I have done?"

Colby grimaced and it was his turn to look away.

"You're a great dad," Don said softly, "And I'm sorry that we stepped on that. I've just … I've seen it."

Colby didn't answer and Don sighed. He doubted Colby would ever forgive him, but at least he'd laid himself open about it. He'd never talked to anyone about Jackson's child, not even his shrink.

Don leaned back over the railing, staring out at the city. After a moment, Colby leaned over the railing as well, and spoke without looking at Don. "Nena cried herself to sleep last night."

Don winced. "I'm sorry."

"Me, too," Colby said. "I try never to raise my voice to her, and I tend to be pretty hard on people who do, but here I was, yelling my head off at her uncles."

"You had serious provocation," Don said.

"No excuse," Colby said.

Don looked at him. "God, Granger, you're too hard on yourself. Everybody yells. Sometimes it needs to be done."

"Not hard enough on myself," Colby said darkly. "If everyone but me thought that Nena needed a gun lesson."

Don's eyes widened. "Everyone but—?"

"Charlie agrees with you," Colby grumbled. "'Though he hasn't said anything. He's as transparent as glass."

"He is," Don said with a faint smile. "What about Megan? And Dad?"

"Megan, I don't know, but probably. Your dad … Now your dad is a whole 'nother issue. I don't think he's ever gotten used to the idea of having guns in the house at all." Colby looked at Don. "In fact, I don't think he's ever gotten used to idea of you being in the FBI, let alone two more family members being Feds."

Don blinked. He'd thought he and his dad had worked that out a long time ago.

"But Don," Colby said, his voice hardening. "Nena's my little girl, my baby. She comes first. If you pull another stunt like this, I'm going to be forced to take her and leave LA, with or without Charlie."

Pressing his lips together, Don nodded.

Colby examined him for a long moment, then his shoulders relaxed minutely. "Okay. Your one Uncle's Pass. This time it worked out – Nena learned what you wanted from the lesson, though God knows it could have gone the other way, she could have become obsessed with guns. Still could."

"Hopefully she'll continue to respect them, though."

"Yeah," Colby said. "Though if she starts crying every time she sees me in my shoulder holster, I'm gonna be pissed."

"True."

Colby looked away from Don again as he said, "You have an Uncle's Pass, but Will doesn't. I don't trust him."

Don's chest tightened and he stared at the hard line of Colby's profile. "What?"

"Megan came over last night, Charlie called her. She really helped everybody calm down. She told us about Jackson, 'though not by name. Charlie remembered the case and how torn up you were about it."

"Okay," Don said. He hadn't realized that he'd shown a reaction, let alone enough of one for Charlie to notice. "But what does that have to do with Will?"

"Why do you think Will wanted to teach Nena to shoot?"

"Because he knew about stuff happening to kids. He said he knew a three-year-old that killed his brother with a gun."

"Megan thinks there's more to it."

Don's eyebrows shot up. "Oh, she does, does she?"

Colby looked uncomfortable. "She thinks that Will was unconsciously trying to create a fight between you and your family because he thinks, eventually, you're gonna leave him, and your closeness to your family threatens him."

Don stared at him, open-mouthed. Then his jaw slowly closed as he realized that that was _exactly_ something Will would do. "Dammit," he snapped. "The stupid bastard."

"You think she's right?" Colby asked cautiously.

"Yeah," Don said, rubbing his forehead where a headache had suddenly appeared. "He's always doing stupid shit like this." He gave Colby an embarrassed look. "Though it usually involves sex."

"Sex?" Colby repeated faintly.

"Never mind," Don said. "But I haven't yet been able to convince the idiot I'm not going to leave him. He just doesn't get it." He smiled wryly. "You think _you've_ got a partner with abandonment issues."

Colby snorted and rolled his eyes.

"God, what a mess," Don said tiredly. "I'm sorry, Colby. Sorry for it all."

"Do you see why I don't feel I can trust Will?" Colby asked quietly.

Don sighed. "Yeah, I do. But I'm gonna be on guard now. Someday, Will is gonna get it through his stubborn head that my family isn't a threat to him, none of my friends are a threat to him, no random person off the _street_ is a threat to him. But messing around with my family is off limits." He slowly shook his head and muttered, "Stupid bastard."

They stood there for a moment in silence, then Colby said, "Both of you, come over to the house tonight. There's stuff that needs to be said."

Don nodded and Colby turned and walked back into the building. Don flipped open his cell phone and dialed Will.

"Hey," he said when Will answered. "Can you meet me for lunch?"


	6. Chapter 6: Confronting

**Part 6 - Confronting**

Don was sitting at a table in the corner of a small, sparsely populated restaurant, turning a cup of coffee between his hands, when Will walked in. Don didn't call out, just watched Will's alert eyes sweep the room, like a sniper checking out sight lines and escape routes, then alight on Don. It was amazing that, after all these months, Will's eyes meeting his still sent a little electrical thrill through Don.

Will smiled, a little warily, and came over. The waiter appeared as Will sat down and took Will's order for a light beer.

After the waiter left, Will looked at Don and asked, "So, what's up?"

Don set his coffee cup on the table and sighed. He wanted to kiss Will and at the same time punch him. He couldn't really do either in public like this, so he settled for doing it verbally. He leaned close to Will and said, "I love you, you goddamned idiot."

Will blinked. "What was that for?"

"Talked with Colby today," Don said.

"Okay," Will said cautiously. "How'd that go?"

"Alright. He wants us to come over to the house tonight because 'there's stuff that needs to be said.'"

"Sounds ominous," Will said, still looking at Don uncertainly.

"Yeah, I'll tell you the details in a minute," Don said, then grabbed Will's hand and gripped it tightly. "But answer me this. Did you, on some level, deliberately set up a fight to drive a wedge between me and my family?"

Will stared at him. "Of course not, why would you—"

Don gripped Will's hand even tighter. "Because I know you, Will Stevens. You've been expecting me to walk away from you since the day we got together. And you keep trying to make it happen. Throwing every temptation at me you can think of, testing me over and over, like with Coop. Don't think I haven't figured it out."

Will pressed his lips together and looked down at the table, down at his hand gripped so forcefully inside Don's. It had to hurt but he made no move to pull away.

Don continued, "Now, you've got a new tactic. You think it's gonna come down to some situation where I have to choose between you and my family, and I'll choose my family. _Of course_, I'll choose my family, you idiot."

Will's eyes flashed up to his and Don saw uncertainty in those dark eyes. Will Stevens, strongest man Don had ever known, was still just treading water in his endless sea of fears.

Don loosened his grip and his voice was gentle. "I'm never gonna have to choose between you and my family, Will, because you _are _family."

Will blinked, obviously startled. Don sighed at the surprise on Will's face. He felt like he was banging his head against a brick wall, trying to get Will to believe him. Well, it was a good thing he had a hard head, because a little bit of the wall chipped away each time.

Don shook his head. "_Aein, _this is no one-night stand, no until-I-find-someone-better, no Mr. Right-Now. I'll never leave you, even if I'm dead. I'll come back from the grave and haunt our bedroom and keep you up all night."

The corner of Will's mouth twitched.

"I'm never gonna leave you," Don repeated, for what felt like the thousandth time. "When are you finally gonna accept that?"

Will's eyes looked suspiciously moist and he turned his head away. His voice sounded ragged as he whispered, "Someday."

"Better make it soon, Stevens," Don said with forced cheerfulness. "I'm running out of friends."

The waiter arrived with Will's beer, giving Will a chance to recover his equilibrium while they ordered lunch.

When the waiter left again, Don said, "So, tonight. We've got to talk to our family." He recounted his conversation with Colby while Will sipped at his beer. Don finished with, "Megan has given us a chance to get through this with the family still intact, but we've got to seize the opportunity. You are going to apologize like hell and take whatever punishments and restrictions that Colby places on you."

Will's eyes flashed with defiance then grew thoughtful. After a long moment, Will nodded in acquiescence. Don was a little surprised that Will didn't argue more, but perhaps he was starting to see sense. Don could only hope.

"Good," Don said. "And don't you dare have to work late tonight."

* * *

Colby left work a little early that afternoon and went to Charlie's office. He pushed open the door and watched Charlie for a moment. His lover was in full "Charlie-the-math-god" mode, head bobbing to some unheard beat from his headphones while he scrawled indecipherable math across the chalkboards. Colby glanced at the math briefly, before deciding he wasn't mentally up to trying to figure out even what field of mathematics Charlie was working in.

Colby moved into the room and shut the door. He sat down on the edge of Charlie's messy desk and waited for Charlie to notice him. There was something they needed to talk about, but Colby was happy to put it off for another few minutes.

Eventually, Charlie saw him, jumping a little and pulling off his headphones. "Hey! What's up?"

Colby wanted to tell Charlie he both loved him and thought he was a complete idiot. He wasn't sure of his voice, so he settled for doing it physically. He grabbed Charlie and gave him a deep kiss, then moved back and poked Charlie hard in the stomach.

"Oof," Charlie said. "What was that for?"

"I hope you know what the kiss was for," Colby said with a wry smile, then he sobered. "The jab was for never telling me your concerns about guns and Nena."

Charlie grimaced guiltily. "You guessed, huh? I had concerns, but I didn't know what to say about it. I mean, you're her dad and I don't have the right to—"

"Bullshit," Colby snapped with sudden anger. "You're either her dad, too, or you're not. You don't get to be 'Daddy' just when it's fun stuff and only a bystander when it's tough. You're either part of raising Nena or you're not."

Charlie blinked and stammered, "I thought … I mean … You, but … And we …"

When it looked like Charlie wasn't going to get anywhere, Colby sighed and said, "Look. I'm not good at this single dad thing. Yeah, I know in theory Jenny is doing her part, but who knows what Nena learns from her. I need you to help me, point out my blind spots. I'm depending on you and Alan and Don and even Will to do this parenting thing with me. I might be mad as hell at how Don and Will went about it, but at least they tried to help."

Charlie flushed with anger. "You think because they took Nena to a gun range that they're doing more for Nena than I am."

Colby let out a deep breath and sat with a thump in a nearby chair. He rubbed his eyes. "That's what it sounded like, didn't it." He looked at Charlie and reached out a hand. Charlie frowned but slowly came close enough to take Colby's hand. Colby tugged Charlie closer and took Charlie's other hand in his, looking up into Charlie's face. "I talked with Don today. I asked him and Will to come over tonight to talk." Charlie tensed but Colby continued, "Don told me about that agent who lost his son to a gun accident two years ago. It was Neal Jackson. I went and read the case file."

Charlie's eyes widened. "Agent Jackson? That's the guy? He always seems so … joking."

"He does. But he's a changed man. Jackson's career was going somewhere before his boy died, but since then it's been only black marks. The thing that hit me the most was reading the transcript of the interview between Don and Jackson. God, it was terrible. Jackson hated himself so much." Colby was embarrassed to feel tears coming to his eyes and blinked quickly. "Don was so gentle with him, but somehow still asking the questions that needed to be asked. I just kept thinking, what if that was me in that interview? I honestly think I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to Nena."

Charlie squeezed his hands silently.

Colby squeezed back. "Angel, I know it's not something you ever expected, but I need you to be my full partner with Nena. If you have concerns, we need to talk about them."

Charlie grimaced and Colby could sympathize. Both of them tended to avoid difficult conversations. But that wasn't a luxury they could afford as parents.

"Anything else about Nena that you've been worried about but haven't told me?" Colby asked.

Charlie frowned thoughtfully. "I've wondered if we should have Nena in preschool."

"Ah, school," Colby said with a nod. "We need to talk about that, and soon." He tugged Charlie closer. "But, right this second, I need you."

Charlie looked like he was going to protest, then just pressed his lips together and let Colby pull him into his lap. Colby held Charlie, his cheek against Charlie's shoulder, and gathered himself back together. The last twenty-four hours had been a series of shocks to his settled little world. He hadn't realized how safe and contented he'd felt until that world was jeopardized. Nena's world had been upset as well. The last thing he wanted was for her to feel uncertain about her home, about the love of those around her. There had to be a way to keep her safe from Will's commitment games with Don, but still allow 'Uncle Will' to have a place in her life.

Colby inhaled Charlie's familiar scent – warmth, love, _home_ – then gently pushed Charlie off of his lap. "Sorry I interrupted you," Colby said, waving at the chalkboard. "I'll see you at the house later."

Charlie shook his head and turned off his music. "It's nothing that can't wait. Should I pick up dinner?"

"That'd be great," Colby said tiredly and tilted Charlie's chin up for a soft kiss. He smiled and ran his thumb across Charlie's lips. If sheer love could make a haven for Nena, he had enough and to spare. "See you at home."


	7. Chapter 7: Saying Things

**Part 7 – Saying things**

They sat in silence, Charlie and Colby on the couch, Alan in a chair, Don and Will in chairs opposite.

They sat in silence, not meeting each other's eyes, Don holding Will's hand and Charlie holding Colby's.

They sat in silence, listening as David's car pulled out of the driveway, taking him, Megan and Nena out to a movie.

Finally, Don said, "Colby, you told me that there were things that needed to be said?"

Colby nodded and let out a long breath. He let go of Charlie's hand to rub his face with both hands. _God, where to start …_

Colby gripped his hands together and looked up. "I never planned on Nena coming to live with me and me living here. It all happened so—you guys know how it happened. She was here for a few days and suddenly she's living here and so am I.

"But I never really … talked about what I expect from the rest of you, in terms of taking care of Nena. With my job, I couldn't do this father thing by myself. I just work too long and too weird hours and if you weren't around to tuck Nena in and make sure she eats, I'd be screwed."

"But you guys stepped up and everything was going great until now. I was selfish, never asking you to help out, just knowing that you would because you love Nena. We never actually talked about discipline and stuff, I just gave you orders about her bedtime and never asked for your input. Like you were my staff instead of my family."

Colby paused for breath but no one else spoke. He swallowed and continued, "So things were going good, but I didn't really want to admit that Nena's growing up. I wanted her to be just-five forever. I wanted her to be my little innocent girl, not touched by the ugly world. But she's growing up, dammit. She's growing up and has eyes and sees stuff that we don't think she does. I wanted her to _not_ like guns, to not be interested in guns at all. I didn't want to admit that she's a smart girl who is into playing 'Fed' and wants a gun for Christmas."

Alan made a sound and Colby shrugged. "Yeah, she told me that's what she wanted, along with a pony and a purple dress and a bunch of other stuff. Don't plan on getting her a pony, either."

Colby frowned, trying to remember what he was saying. "So, she's growing up." He gave Charlie a wry look. "In fact, as Charlie pointed out to me, she really needs to start school. I have a packet of forms that I need to fill out to get her into school and the very last day for late registration is tomorrow. It's a given that Jenny hasn't done it."

Colby pressed his lips together and shook his head. "I like to think that if you guys came and talked to me about the need to give Nena hands-on gun experience, that I would have rationally listened to you and been convinced. But I really don't know. I don't know."

Silence followed this statement and Colby looked around. "C'mon, someone say something."

"I don't mind taking care of Nena," Charlie said quietly.

"Me, either," Alan said.

"I know," Colby said. "That's part of the problem. It was so easy to just let you guys do it."

"She's easy to take care of," Alan said.

"But, while I might act like I know everything, I don't. I need you guys to tell me if I'm walking off a cliff."

Will cleared his throat. "I have something I need to say, too." He met Colby's eyes squarely. "I fucked up. I thought I knew why I was doing what I was doing, but it looks like I didn't. I had no call to be thinking about anything but what Nena needed. I still think it was the right thing to do, but I was doing it for the wrong reasons. If I hadn't been so blind, I hope I would have come talk to you, convinced you. I think I could have, especially with some stuff I've seen, but … I fucked up."

Colby nodded sharply. "That's right, Stevens, you fucked up. I don't care how bad your childhood was, what issues you've got with Don leaving you, Nena is off-limits."

He addressed the whole group. "This is how it's gonna go. Will is never to be alone with Nena, _ever_. I'm trusting Don to be smarter next time, now that he's on guard. You guys have your own issues, but Nena isn't a game piece. If I have to, Charlie and me will take her and go somewhere else. My career isn't as important as Nena, and Charlie's got standing invites to most universities in the world. If we need to, we'll take Nena way out of your reach."

Will nodded, and Don said, "I understand."

"You better not screw up," Alan snapped and Charlie grumbled in agreement.

Another moment of silence as everyone absorbed the new restrictions. Colby was still angry with Will, but at least his hands weren't itching to strangle him anymore.

"Dad?" Don asked quietly. "This is kinda off the subject but … Colby said that you weren't okay about me being a Fed."

Alan sighed and sat back. "I didn't say that."

"But …" Don looked at Colby.

Alan continued, "It's just that … I was finally okay with you joining the FBI, especially now that you're not in manhunting and I see you more often, then Charlie starts working with the FBI and I find out that he's been working with the NSA and every other government agency that's ever been responsible for every foul thing that the US has ever done. And he's giving them tools to do worse things."

"Hey!" Charlie objected.

"Then Charlie brings home Colby, who used to be an army _interrogator_, and is now with the FBI, and you bring home Will, who's a drug cop and scary as Hell."

"What?" Don blinked.

"Then it looks like my only 'grandchild' is gonna go down that same road and I'm afraid I flipped out a little."

"Uh …" Colby managed, stunned along with everyone else.

"Scary as Hell, huh?" Will said with a faint smile.

Alan shrugged and nodded. "Sometimes."

Will gave an odd shake of his head, as if he wasn't sure if he was offended or pleased.

"I'm not giving tools to bad guys," Charlie protested.

"How do you know?" Alan shot back and Charlie subsided into frowning silence.

"I didn't know you felt this way," Don said slowly.

"That's because I didn't want you to," Alan said with a sharp edge to his voice. "It's not my job to make my adult children feel bad about their chosen careers or chosen partners. I don't expect you to change either for my sake. I just hope that, in the overall scheme on things, you do more good than harm."

"Alan," Colby said tightly. "I don't know what you think I did for the Army, but I didn't torture anyone."

"God, Dad," Don said. "We need to talk about this."

Alan shook his head.

Don's eyes flashed. "If you don't like Will—"

"Oh, I like Will," Alan interrupted calmly. "And Colby. I like them both a lot and can see that they make you boys happy. It's just what they _do_ that I have trouble with." He put his hands on his legs in preparation for standing. "But, never mind that now."

"That's it?" Charlie snapped. "You're gonna say that sort of stuff then, 'Never mind?' Don's right, we need to talk about it."

"No," Alan said firmly. "We'll talk about it some other time, when emotions aren't already running high. Now, Colby, where is this paperwork you need to fill out for school?"

Colby blinked and stammered, "On the desk in her bedroom."

"Good," Alan said and got to his feet. "Don't want to miss that deadline." Alan got up, walked up the stairs, and left the four men staring after him.

"So I'm not the only one with 'issues,'" Will said wryly.

"Guess not …" Colby said. "Don't know what he thinks I did in Afghanistan, but he's got some wrong ideas in his head."

"I'll say," Charlie said fervently.

All of them slowly shook their heads, then there was a surprised silence as they looked at each other. Just a few moments before they had been adversaries, but Alan's unexpected attack had suddenly put them all on the same side.

"Huh," Colby murmured under his breath. Maybe that's what the crafty old man had intended. It wasn't just Don and Charlie that were smart and occasionally manipulative.

"Is this it?" Alan called, holding up a manila envelope as he came back down the stairs.

"Yeah," Colby said absently. "That's it."

"Okay," Alan said, pulling a pile of paperwork out of the envelope. "Let's see what we've got." He sat down at the dining room table. "Bring me a pen, Charlie?"

Charlie stood up and began looking around for a pen. Don shrugged, went over to the table and pulled out a chair. "Washington Park Elementary? I went to Mayfair and the house hasn't moved."

"But the school district changed, just a few years ago," Alan said. "There was a big local vote."

"Oh yeah," Don said. "I remember the sign in the Mrs. Singh's yard." He frowned thoughtfully and took some of the paperwork.

"Is a blue pen okay?" Charlie asked and pulled out a chair next to Don.

Colby and Will looked at each other. Colby stood up and Will did, too. Colby came over to Will and said quietly, "Nena's off-limits, we clear? Or you'll find that I can be as scary as Hell, too."

Will's face went completely sober and he responded, just as quietly, "Yes, sir."

Colby eyed him for a long moment then decided he was being serious. Colby gave a short nod and went over to the table to start the long-delayed paperwork.


	8. Chapter 8: Defying Expectations

**Part 8 – Defying Expectations**

Whatever Megan had been expecting when she walked through the door – yelling, thrown dishes, sulking in corners, Don and Will gone home and Charlie in the garage –

whatever she had expected, it was certainly not this. David had dropped her off and taken Nena to a local diner for a milkshake. David and Megan had thought that Megan might be needed to calm some people down before bringing Nena back. Now Megan stared, jaw open, at the cheerfully domestic scene in front of her.

Alan, Colby, Charlie and Don were sitting around the dining room table, poring over various sheets of paper. Colby and Don seemed to be having a debate, but it was a cordial one, and it was about … Nena's reading level? And a lovely smell was coming from the kitchen. There was still some tension in the air but, oddly, it seemed to be directed at Alan.

As she stood there, gaping, Will pushed open the door from the kitchen, a plate of homemade cookies in his hand.

"Here are the ones with nuts," Will said, setting the plate down in the middle of the table. "Ones with orange are in the oven now."

Multiple hands reached for cookies.

"Orange?" Charlie asked. "Did you use the last of the orange juice?"

"Nope, orange extract."

Charlie stopped with a cookie halfway to his mouth. "We have orange extract?"

Will grinned. "Well, you certainly didn't have any Grand Marnier."

"Huh?" Charlie asked, his forehead crinkling.

"Eat your cookie, brainiac," Will laughed.

"Cookies?" Megan asked in confusion.

Everyone looked at her. "Oh hey," Colby said and looked past her. "Where's Nena?"

"David dropped me off and took her for a milkshake," Megan said, examining Colby's face. "In case …"

"In case we needed an intervention," Colby said wryly.

Megan nodded silently.

"At the moment," Don grumbled, "What we need is a definition of reading levels that doesn't take an education degree to interpret."

"Education …?"

"Paperwork for Nena to go to school," Alan said, holding up a mess of paper. "Due tomorrow."

"Oh …" Megan said faintly.

Will winked at her and went back to the kitchen. Megan followed him.

Megan waited until the kitchen door closed behind her, then snapped. "Did I just walk through some sort of warp in space/time and end up in an alternate universe where the big fight never happened?"

Will chuckled.

Megan raised her eyebrows impatiently.

"Okay, okay," Will smiled, then his face grew serious. "You want details, I assume."

"Yes!"

Will nodded and moved over to the counter. He picked up a spoon and started dropping scoops of dough onto a cookie sheet. "It wasn't a long conversation," he said at last. "Colby first talked about how he never planned on Nena and him coming to live here so he never really told people what he expected from them in terms of taking care of Nena. That people had just done it and he had just taken it for granted. He said, 'I treated you like staff instead of family.'"

Megan stared at him. She'd thought the same thing but figured that if Alan and Charlie were okay with the way Colby expected them to take care of Nena, then it wasn't Megan's place to say something. She tried not to meddle if she didn't have to. But that didn't stop her from thinking things.

Will continued, "Colby said that he didn't want to admit that Nena might be growing up and picking up stuff around her that we don't think she is."

Megan nodded. People don't realize how much kids see.

"He said that Nena had asked for a gun for Christmas."

Megan sucked in a gasp. Maybe this whole fight had come just in time.

Will grimaced in agreement then said, "Colby said that he didn't want to admit that Nena's growing up and one sign of that was he hadn't signed her up for school yet."

"Still?" Megan said in surprise. "She's way old enough for it!"

"I know. Colby then said that he hoped he would have been rational if we'd come talk to him about giving Nena 'hands-on gun experience' but that he can't say if he would have. And he needed people to tell him if he was walking off a cliff."

Megan nodded. "Good, good. Good for Colby. How did you guys respond?"

"Umm, didn't really," Will said, turning away from Megan towards the oven. "I said something first." He turned on the oven light and looked at the cookies currently baking. Megan waited.

"I, uh, told Colby that I fucked up and was sorry. That I thought I knew why I did what I did, but I did it for the wrong reasons. I think I could have talked Colby into it if I had tried."

Megan put her hand to her mouth and Will gave her a wry, tired look. "Yeah, smart girl, you were right. Don hit me with that today."

Megan grimaced. "Sometimes I don't like being right."

Will shrugged one shoulder and reached for the hot pads. He opened up the oven door and released a wave of cookie-scented heat. Megan backed away while Will got out the done cookies, set them aside, and put in a fresh tray to bake.

"The deal is I'm not to be alone with Nena, ever," Will said, without a change of expression. "Don's to keep a watch on me that I don't use Nena as 'a game piece' again. That if it happens again, Colby will take Charlie and Nena and leave LA."

"Whoa …" Megan said, her eyes going wide. "That's pretty harsh. There's plenty of blame to go around here, not just you."

Will gave another one-shouldered shrug and Megan eyed him. He didn't seem overly upset by being declared the bad guy in the situation and 'punished.'

Megan said slowly, "You … you're more comfortable with that, with being the black sheep, the family pariah." She shook her head in amazement. "Jesus, Will, you're a profiler's wet dream."

Will glared at her and she held up her hands. "Sorry, sorry."

Will turned away from her and spent a long moment getting a spatula out of a drawer. When he turned back to her, his face was composed, unreadable. Megan was actually honored that she rarely saw Will's 'undercover' face. She knew he didn't trust easily or often and she mentally castigated herself for her rude words.

"After that," Will said, "it really got interesting."

Megan snorted. "_Got_ interesting?"

"Yeah." Will took the spatula and started removing cookies from the sheet. "Don asked his Dad if he really was okay with him being in the FBI."

"Oh," Megan said with a feeling of dread.

Will nodded, confirming her fears. "Alan said that he had finally gotten okay with Don's job then he found out that Charlie had been working with the NSA and CIA and who knows who else. He said that Charlie's worked with 'every government agency that's done every foul thing the US has ever done' and that Charlie was giving them tools to do more."

"Ouch," Megan said.

"Then his boyfriend is an ex-army 'interrogator' and I'm a drug cop and," Will flushed slightly. "'Scary as Hell.'"

Megan made a choking sound, unsure whether to be amused or horrified.

"Everyone started arguing with him and he just said, 'we'll talk about it later' and went to go get the paperwork for Nena's school."

Megan's jaw dropped. "He just said, 'Never mind?'"

Will gave her a sideways grimace. "Pretty much."

"Whoa," Megan said, feeling overwhelmed by the sheer complexities of what Will had called 'not a long conversation.'

"Here," Will said, his voice understanding. "Have a cookie."

Automatically, Megan took the cookie and bit into it. She blinked and looked up at Will. "These are really good."

"Of course, they are," Will smirked and went to spoon the rest of the cookie dough onto a cookie sheet.

Megan followed him. "So how did Charlie and Don react to Alan's statements?"

"Upset, of course. Don said that he couldn't just say he didn't like me, and Alan said that he liked me and Colby just fine, just not our jobs."

"Hate the sin, not the sinner," Megan mumbled.

Will raised an eyebrow at her but she shook her head. "And that's it. Nothing else except 'let's do paperwork.'"

"Well," Will said uncomfortably. "Colby did take me aside and make sure I understood he was serious about his threat to take Charlie and Nena and leave if I messed up again."

"And you said?"

"I said 'of course.' What else could I say?"

"What else indeed …"

Megan slowly shook her head, feeling overwhelmed. She waved vaguely towards the cookie sheet. "Anything I can do to help?"

Will flashed her a smile. "You can always do the dishes."

Megan chuckled and rolled up her sleeves. A simple manual task would be good for her brain at the moment. She could write an entire doctoral dissertation on this extended family.

After working through a pile of dirty dishes, Megan was drying her hands when her phone rang. She checked the caller ID, although she was pretty sure who it was. She answered it, saying, "Hey, David, bring her in."


	9. Chapter 9: Eating Cookies

**Part 9 – Eating Cookies**

David shut the phone as they pulled into the driveway. He looked over at Nena and smiled. "Home at last."

Nena smiled back at him, because he was nice, but she wasn't stupid, she knew what was going on. Earlier, David and Megan had taken her away from the house so that Daddy and Charlie and the others could do the yelling. She'd forgotten for a few minutes during the movie, the dog had been really funny, then she remembered again.

Nena knew how this went. First was, 'Nena, meet your new Daddy' then everything was happy and balloons and presents. Eventually, though, came the yelling, then the pretend-happy, then more yelling, then finally the leaving. Daddy Charlie had been Nena's favorite, and he'd lasted a long time. She hoped she'd like Daddy's new boywife. Or would it mean no more Daddy Daddy? Back to Michigan? She'd liked California. But she wouldn't cry, nope. She was too big a girl for that.

After the movie, she'd been a little confused when they'd come home, dropped Megan off and left again. But she'd decided that Megan needed to do the yelling, too. Nena was glad that David didn't need to do the yelling and had taken her for a milkshake.

Now, the strawberry milkshake felt like a lump in her stomach as David helped her out of the car. Nena slid her hand into his and they walked up the sidewalk. It seemed quiet inside. They'd gotten past the yelling then. She hoped they'd get to the second yelling soon. The pretend-happy was worse than the yelling or even the time between Daddies when Mommy cried a lot. Would Daddy cry when Charlie was gone?

When they opened the door and walked inside, no one noticed them at first. Nena stared, looking for clues to the moods of the people sitting at the table. Daddy and Uncle Don had a laptop out and were talking about something on the screen. Grandpa Alan was looking at a map. Charlie was writing on some paper and eating a cookie. Smells came from the kitchen that would have been yummy if Nena didn't already have a milkshake lump in her stomach. Uncle Will and Megan weren't in sight. It all looked so … normal.

"Hey, guys," David called. "Do I smell cookies?"

Everyone looked up and smiled. Nena stepped closer to David, holding his hand tight.

Daddy frowned. "Honey, come here."

Nena looked up at David, who nodded encouragement. She reluctantly let go of David's hand and crossed the big gap of space to the table. Daddy took her hands and pulled her up to sit on top of his knees.

Daddy said, "I'm sorry that we were yelling yesterday. We've worked it out, though."

Nena sniffled and looked down at Daddy's hands. 'Worked it out' were pretend-happy words.

"Honey," Daddy said. "We talked about a lot of stuff that we needed to talk about. I know it was scary, but sometimes families have problems. It doesn't mean we aren't a family anymore and won't get over it."

Nena looked over at Charlie. He was watching her, his face worried. At least he and Daddy weren't pretending nothing had happened. She hated that the most. Charlie reached over the table and held out his hand. Nena slowly put her hand in his.

"Hey," Charlie said with a weak smile. "Nothing to worry about, okay?"

Uncle Don came around the side of the table and knelt next to Nena. He took her other hand. "Families make mistakes, but we still love each other."

"That's right," Grandpa Alan said.

Uncle Will came out of the kitchen, holding a plate of cookies. "Hello, little one," he said with a smile.

Megan followed behind him, drying her hands on a towel. "Did you get a milkshake?"

"Um-hmm," Nena said, her eyes sweeping back and forth between faces. Maybe this pretend-happy wouldn't be as bad as usual. She let go of Charlie and Don's hands and reached to the cookie plate on the table. She picked up a cookie, it was still warm. As she ate the cookie, she examined Daddy's face. He smiled at her and pushed her hair behind her ears.

"Do you want some milk?" Daddy asked.

"Um-hmm," Nena responded. The cookies were really good. Will must have made them.

Daddy continued, "Sweetie, we're doing the paperwork so you can sign up for school. Would you like that?"

Nena perked up. "School?" That would mean she really was a big girl. It also meant … that she was staying in California, staying with Daddy! She'd miss Charlie and Grandpa Alan and her uncles, but at least she would still have Daddy. Nena gave him a big smile. "When?"

"If we can get you signed tomorrow, you'll start next week."

"Can I go with Charlie's class?"

"Charlie's class is for grown-ups, honey," Colby said with a smile.

"Though it doesn't feel like it around test time," Charlie said wryly.

Nena examined Charlie. The way he looked at her and at Daddy hadn't changed. He didn't have tight eyes or a pinched mouth. Maybe he didn't know about pretend-happy time? No one was behaving quite right.

Don was still kneeling by her side and he seemed to be examining her as closely as she was Charlie.

"Nena?" Don said. "Do think your daddy and Charlie are going break up now?"

Nena flinched. "Shh," she hissed. "You not s'posed to talk about that yet."

"What?" Daddy said, blinking at her.

She leaned over and tried to explain to Don before he made the yelling come again. "Iz pretend-happy time. We not 'sposed to talk about thuh yellin'. Iz second yelling that you talk about that."

Don looked blankly at her, then turned to Megan. "Um, what does she mean?"

Megan frowned, but it was a thinking frown. "She expects this relationship to follow the patterns of all her mother's relationships. It sounds like the pattern was a fight, then a make-up period, then another fight, then a breakup."

Nena looked anxiously at Megan. She was talking about the yelling. No one talked about the yelling.

Charlie got up and came around the side of the table. Don stood up and Charlie knelt next to her instead.

"I'm not going anywhere," Charlie said firmly. "Neither is Colby or you. Nobody is mad at you."

Nena looked at Charlie fearfully. He looked serious. He really didn't know what was coming. He'll be sad, too.

Suddenly, it was too much for Nena. She'd tried to be a big girl, big enough to go to school, but … She buried her face in Daddy's shoulder and broke into tears. Daddy wrapped his arms around her and rocked her, saying 'shhh' and calling her his baby and his Nena-bear.

He lifted her up and carried her somewhere. She pressed her face into his shirt and cried until she ran out of tears and got hiccups. She finally peaked out from Daddy's shirt to see that she and Daddy were sitting on the couch, Charlie next to them. Charlie offered her a tissue and she wiped her face. She looked around. Will sat in the chair across from her, Don's hands on his shoulders. Will looked kind of scrunched up and unhappy. David was sitting at the table, eating a cookie and looking at the computer. Megan was talking quietly to Alan.

Charlie jumped up then came back with a glass of milk and offered it to her. She drank a few gulps and made the hiccups go away.

"Do you want another cookie?" Charlie asked hopefully. "Will made cookies, chocolate chips with nuts or with orange flavor."

Nena nodded.

"Which one?"

"'rnge," Nena mumbled.

Charlie brought her a cookie on a napkin.

"Do you see now why I say no yelling?" Daddy said to Charlie and the others. "Jenny is all about the yelling."

"Yeah," Charlie said quietly.

Will came over and knelt in front of Nena. "I can't tell you how sorry I am to have triggered this whole mess," he said seriously.

Nena looked at him. "Fing'rs should never go near trigg'r 'cause that's thuh safetee."

"That's right," Will said, glancing up at Daddy then back again.

"Mm-hm," Nena said. "You make good cookies."

Will looked like he wanted to say something else then just gave her a small smile. "I'm glad you like them." He got back up and went back to his chair. Standing behind his chair, Don put his arms around Will's neck. Will leaned his cheek against Don's arm.

Nena ate her cookie for a moment and sipped at her milk.

"Here's a weird suggestion," Megan said. "Don, can you and Will sleep here tonight?"

Will looked at Don and they both nodded.

"Sure," Don said.

"And can Nena sleep with you two?" she asked Daddy and Charlie.

Daddy nodded and Nena smiled. She loved sleeping with her Daddies. Even if Charlie did snore really loud.

"Good," Megan said. "I think Nena has some serious abandonment issues arising from a revolving door of surrogate fathers with her mother."

Nena ignored Megan saying Megan things and crawled off her Daddy's lap to get another cookie. Eating the cookie, she went up to her bedroom, got her pillow and Rocko and put them on the bed in the guest bedroom. She pulled the corner of the blanket down and tucked Rocko under the covers. She turned around to see Daddy watching her.

"Unka Don and Unka Wiw sleep here?" Nena asked.

"I don't think both of them will fit in that bed," Daddy smiled. "If it's okay, Don's gonna sleep in your bed since you'll be with us."

Nena thought about it then decided that it was okay for Don to sleep in her bed. "He bett'r not wet in bed!"

Daddy laughed. "I'll tell him that." He reached out for Nena's hand. "Now, it's almost bedtime and David and Megan need to go to their beds." Nena ran her pillow back to her bedroom and tucked Marymary, her teddy bear, into the bed for Don.

Nena went back to Daddy and took his hand. They went downstairs. Megan was still saying Megan stuff so Nena got a nut cookie.

"Don," Daddy warned. "Nena wants you to know that you better not wet her bed."

Everyone laughed and then started talking some more. Daddy and Alan went back to the school paperwork on the table. Charlie sat down on the couch and forgetfully drank the rest of Nena's milk. Nena didn't mind. She sat next to Charlie and snuggled up to him.

"I hope you don't go anywhere," she whispered to Charlie.

"Me, too," Charlie whispered back.

Nena felt exhausted from the crying and the stressful evening. She curled up against Charlie, feeling his solid warmth. He put his arm around her and gave her a little squeeze. He certainly didn't feel like he was going anywhere. Maybe this pretend-happy could just be a happy-happy. She yawned and couldn't even manage to finish her cookie before she dropped off to sleep.


End file.
